THICK, black smoke gushed from a substation on Wednesday evening when it caught alight in Balgownie Crescent in Durban North. A substation fault caused an explosion at around 6pm, causing Swapo Road and other parts of Durban North to be without power.
“I spoke to property owner on whose verge the substation is situated. They said the power has been off since the explosion,” said Ward 36 councillor, Shaun Ryley.
He added that the electricity department is not sure what caused the fault.
“A replacement unit with 500KVA capacity is being installed. The old unit was a 315KVA unit. The long term plan is to demolish the old structure and place a new unit (self contained, weatherproof and does not require building around it) on the slab of the old substation,” he added.
It was expected that power would be restored to affected households by today (Friday, 11 July).
Updates to follow.
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